HQ Team
October 10, 2023: Chongqing Zhifei Biological Products, the largest Chinese vaccine company by revenue, will buy shingles vaccines from GSK Plc., worth $3 billion to distribute in the Asian country.
British drugmaker, GSK’s deal with Zhifei is initially for a three-year period with a potential for an extension, according to a GSK statement.
The distribution of the vaccines is set to start on January 1, 2024, and Zhifei will have exclusive rights to import and distribute the vaccine Shingrix in China.
Zhifei has an extensive service network, which covers more than 30,000 vaccination points across the country. Zhifei will purchase agreed volumes of Shingrix with a value of 2.5 billion pounds ($3 billion) over the initial three-year period.
The volumes are expected to be phased over this time as demand is expected to accelerate steadily through the period, according to the statement.
Four billion pounds by 2026
“There is potential to extend the partnership should all parties agree. The partnership supports and accelerates GSK’s commitment to double global Shingrix sales, reaching more than four billion pounds by 2026.”
Zhifei has granted GSK the right of first refusal to be their exclusive partner for any co-development and commercialisation of a respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) vaccine for older adults in China, which will pave the way for the companies to potentially partner on Arexvy upon approval in China.
GSK, in August 2023, announced positive data from a phase IV trial showing that Shingrix demonstrated 100% vaccine efficacy in preventing shingles in Chinese adults aged 50 and above.
Shingrix was approved in May 2019 by China’s National Medical Products Administration to prevent shingles in adults aged 50 years or older.
Only 1.2% Chinese vaccinated
Estimates suggest that by 2030, there will be 570 million people over the age of 50 in China, yet as of June 2023, only about 1.2% of the current population has been vaccinated against shingles.
Shingles, also known as herpes zoster, is caused by a reactivation of a virus – the same virus that causes chickenpox.
Globally, most people aged 50 and over have the dormant virus in their nervous system and are at risk of developing shingles.
As people age, the immune system’s strength wanes, leading to a decreased response to infection and thus increasing the risk of developing shingles. People with a suppressed or compromised immune system are also at risk of shingles.
Shingles typically present as a rash with painful chest, abdomen, or face blisters.1The pain is often described as aching, burning, stabbing or shock-like.
“This partnership is consistent with our focus on products with a high and durable level of differentiation,” said Luke Miels, Chief Commercial Officer, GSK.
“It materially expands the number of Chinese adults who can benefit from Shingrix and includes the option to extend the collaboration to include our novel RSV vaccine Arexvy.”
